Final Fantasy XIII-2: After The Fall
by Frontline
Summary: Fang and Vanille are revived from crystal by the Academy, only to find that the world they knew has changed forever and a new war is brewing against Luxerion, with a deadly enemy working to destroy the Academy from within.


**FINAL FANTASY AND ALL CONNECTED CHARACTERS AND SETTINGS ARE THE PROPERTY OF SQUARE ENIX. NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT IS INTENDED OR ANY PROFIT MADE.**

Lightning stood in the centre of the room with her arms folded across her chest, waiting patiently despite the anxiety fluttering in her stomach, her face a mask of calm. She was dressed in the Uniform of the PSICOM Commando Brigade, which was a dark grey version of the Academy Security Regiment uniform, with the addition of a matt black chest plate, gauntlets and shoulder pauldrons, the latter bearing her Staff Sargeant rank insignia.  
'Man, what's taking so long? Feels like we've been waiting here for a week.'  
Lightning turned towards the sound of the voice, where Snow was standing with his forearm resting on the reinforced glass of the observation window, his gaze fixed on the laboratory below. He was wearing his traditional great coat and bandana, with the white hair that gave him his namesake and his typical expression of barely restrained energy that others mistook for impatience.  
'Hope will tell us when he's ready, Snow. We can't afford to rush into this.'  
'I know. But, they've been waiting for three years since...  
His voice trailed off and he balled up his fist, looking round as Serah walked up towards him and laid a hand on his shoulder. Serah was her Sister and Snow's Fiancé and she'd always admired how well they'd complemented each other. With a faint smile, she turned and walked over to Sazh, who was sitting in a chair with his feet up on the desk, his hands folded behind his head.  
'He's got a point, you know. It's been three years since we...they...saved Cocoon and a lot's happened since then. I don't even know how we're going to explain to them just how much everything's changed. Our world isn't the same place that it was back then.'  
It wasn't a figure of speech, either. Everything they knew about their world had changed in the blink of an eye. Even now, she couldn't begin to explain it. Lightning glanced across at Noel Kreiss, who stood at the back of the room, his face steady and inscrutable. The young Hunter had been with her in those last desperate days when everything changed and he knew better than most just how she was feeling. Even after the year that he had spent as part of their family, she knew that he still felt like something of an outsider.  
Family. That how Fang described us, and she wasn't wrong. I wonder what they'll make of us, now. Hopefully, we'll know in a few minutes.  
She was snapped out of her thoughts as Hope's voice came over the intercom from the control room above them.  
'We're ready.'  
Sazh sprang to his feet and scrambled over to the observation window, Lightning striding after him as they clustered next to the glass, looking down into the Laboratory. Lightning felt her throat tighten as she looked on the crystalline forms of Fang and Vanille below them and she took a deep breath, steadying herself. If Hopes predictions were right, she'd need to ready to act quickly.  
'Commencing power sequence.'  
Hope reported and a faint humm could be felt through their feet as power surged through the room with a sharp smell of ozone. Lightning heard Serah's intake of breath as the crystal forms of her friends began to glow, the light growing so bright that she was forced to squeeze her eyes shut against the glare. When she opened them, she saw two naked figures lying on the floor of the Lab, neither of them moving.  
'Hope, get the Medics. Noel, keep everyone here.'  
Lightning yelled, sprinting for the door towards the lift that would take her to the lab. Behind her, she heard Snow demanding to be let through, but she ignored it. She knew that Noel would be able to keep cool enough to deal with the others and she needed to focus.

'Outta my way, Noel. They need help.' Snow demanded, but Noel held his ground, folding his arms calmly across his chest and matching his stare evenly.  
'That right. And Lightning and the Medics don't need us all trampling over the place and getting in their way. There's nothing you can do, Snow.'  
Noel said, his expression softening slightly.  
'I know you don't like sitting and waiting, but Lightning can handle it.'  
Snow seemed to get a hold of himself and nodded, moving back towards the window and staring down at the lab, resting his arm against the glass.  
'Come on, Lightning.' He said, to himself.

Lightning stepped out of the lift at the same time as the Medics, who immediately set to work, dropping beside their patients and checking for their pulses and starting CPR. Lightning felt her blood go cold and she activated her comlink, struggling to maintain her detachment. She couldn't afford to feel what she was feeling, not while she had a job to do.  
'Hope, Code Blue, Crash. Alert the MedCentre!'  
Lightning said, stepping back as the Medics fitted portable ventilators to Fang and Vanille, lifting them on stretchers to move them to the Medical Centre, leaving her standing there, feeling helpless and shaky. She glanced up at the others, who were watching with strained expressions and turned towards the lift, not sure what she was going to say.

Fifteen minutes later, they were gathered in Hope's Office, their subdued expressions a mute testament to the celebration that they had been expecting to have right now. Hope looked especially grim, and Lightning knew the pain of the burden that he must have been feeling. It had been his idea to revive them and his research that had lead to this moment. If Fang and Vanille died because of it, he'd never forgive himself.  
'Alright, here's what we know.' Hope said, without preamble.  
'They've been stabilised for now and they're breathing without assistance, which is encouraging. However, they've yet to regain consciousness and their neural scans haven't indicated any reason why that may be. But, we've never revived anyone from crystal stasis before, so we've got very little data to go on.'  
'So, what do we do?' Sazh asked, 'Just wait for them to wake up?'  
'That's all we can do. Despite all our safeguards, they've taken an enormous shock to their systems which will take some time to recover from and...'  
Hope's desk communicator beeped and he activated it, holding the earpiece up to his head for a few seconds, before replacing it with a frown.  
'We've got a problem...'

Fang opened her eyes to find herself staring at a metal ceiling with cold, harsh lights that told her that she was in a hospital. She sat up slowly and took stock of her surroundings. She was lying in a hospital bed, dressed in a lightweight green tunic and trousers and she was alone. The door to the room hissed open and Fang quickly lay back down, closing her eyes as she she heard the footsteps approach, stopping a few feet away and their was the rustle of a curtain. She risked opening her eyes and saw a woman dressed in a white uniform with green trim on the shoulders bending over the figure lying in the next bed and she caught a glimpse of red hair.  
Vanille!  
Fang silently swung herself out of the bed, grabbing the woman by the arm and slamming her against the wall, pinning her with her arm twisted behind her back. Vanille sat up in bed, her eyes wide, and Fang put her finger to her lips, motioning her to keep quiet. Vanille nodded, slipping out of the bed and opening the nearest cupboard, pulling out two extra tunics and throwing them to Fang, who used them to bind the woman's hands and feet. She hauled her up and laid her on the bed, using a bandage to gag her and pulling the blanket upto her head, turning back to Vanille, who was holding out a pair of boots towards her, having already put her own on.  
'Good girl.' Fang said, slipping on her boots and moving towards the door.  
'I don't know where we are, or how we woke up, but we're getting out of here.'  
Fang opened the door and, checking that the coast was clear, slipped down the corridor, with Vanille following behind her. Fang reached the corner of the corridor just as another uniformed figure appeared, his eyes widening when he saw Fang, his hand dropping to his holster. As quick as he was, Fang was faster, her fist catching him across the jaw and she scythed his legs from under him, dropping him to the floor, unconscious. Quickly, she pulled the two pistols from his holster, tucking one into the waistband of her trousers, handing the other to Vanille, who took it gingerly.  
'Until we know what's going on, I want you to use that if you need to defend yourself. Okay?'  
Vanille nodded, and slipped her weapon into her waist band, gesturing to the unconscious man.  
'That looks like a Guardian Corps uniform. Do you think we're back on Cocoon?'  
'I don't know, but we won't find out standing around here. Come on.'  
'Fang! Vanille!'  
Fang spun round, her eyes widening when she saw the figure standing behind her.  
'Lightning?'  
Vanille said, starting forward, but Fang put her arm out to stop her, levelling her pistol at her.  
'How do I know that it's really you?' She demanded, and Lightning's gaze narrowed.  
'That's a question only you can answer, because there's nothing that I can say that will convince you one way or the other.'  
Fang stared at her for a moment and then lowered her pistol, with a faint smile crossing her lips.  
'You haven't changed, have you, Lightning?' She said, stepping forward and extending her hand, which Lightning grasped tightly, betraying her depth of feeling, despite her control.  
'It's good to see you again, Fang. And you, Vanille. But, we need to talk.'

Vanille sat at the circular table in the centre of Hope's Laboratory, feeling uneasy, despite the jubilant atmosphere that filled the room. Seeing their friends again had lifted her spirits more than she had expected and the reunion had devolved into a group hug that was initiated by Snow, that the others quickly joined in. Fang was now sitting across the table from her, talking animatedly with Lightning, Snow and Serah, occasionally glancing at Vanille and giving her a warm smile.  
'Hey, kiddo.'  
Vanille looked up to see Sazh drop into the seat next to her, offering his usual goofy grin and she smiled back.  
'Hi, Sazh.' She replied, looking around the room. 'How's Dajh?'  
'He's fine. He's at home. I didn't want him here in case, y'know, this didn't work. But, it did work and here we are.' He finished with a grin, that Vanille returned.  
The door to the Lab hissed open and Hope entered, followed by a blond-haired woman that Vanille didn't recognised, who was dressed in the same uniform as Hope. They sat down at the head of the table and the other's turned to face him, their converstation ceasing as he started to speak.  
'Sorry to keep you waiting, but there were some matters that I had to attend to. I know that a lot has happened lately, but there's something that I need to brief you on before we can go any further.'  
He manipulated the controls of the table next to him and an image sprang up above the table, showing a futuristic cityscape with hover cars speeding past. The image then changed to show a dark, grim city that Vanille didn't recognise, followed by an image of the Archlyte Steppe, the view zooming in on a crude camp with high metal walls that had been built aroud it. More images flashed up; The City of Paddra, looking like it had been rebuilt; The Mah'haraba with vast machines moving through the tunnels; Oerba, bustling with activity, ships visible in the waters beyond. And, finally, the image that made her jaw drop, Cocoon floating in the skies of Pulse, looking whole and undamaged.  
'One year ago, our world changed. Even now, we don't know exactly how it happened, but we have several theories. What we know is that, in 500 AF, time was dying and reality would be destroyed in thirteen days. Somehow, Lightning restarted the timeline, but our world wasn't the same after that. Different realities and timelines have merged together, creating a whole new world.  
Hope manipulated the inages, bringing up the image of the dark and grim city that he had shown them before.  
'This is Luxerion, the central city on the continent of Nova Chrysalia, who's people worship Bhunivelze. It is our belief that Nova Chrysalia comes from another world that was created by Bhunivelze, possibly trying to create a reality that was separate from Etro and free of Mywnn's influence, but we have no definitive evidence to prove that conclusively.'  
Hope adjusted the controls again, showing the image of Cocoon, hovering above the Archylyte Steppe.  
'This appears to be Cocoon from before the War of Transgression, although our Intelligence says that a truly human Council is in charge, not Bartandelus. It's possible that this Cocoon is from another timeline where Bartandelus never came to power, or was prevented somehow. Or that the whole timeline has changed and this is an entirely new reality that bears little relation to whatever may have happened before. In truth, we may never know, but there seem to be certain constants that have persisted. Unfortunately, they harbour the same fear of Pulse as the Cocoon that we knew and tensions are rising, so our intelligence is very limited. Hope pressed another button, displaying an image of Gran Pulse.  
'Similarly, Gran Pulse seems to be populated by people that existed during the War of Transgression, especially the settlements around Paddra, and Oerba. The fal'cie there have also returned, maintaining their roles that we are familiar with.'  
'Hold on a moment.' Fang interjected. 'If this really is Pulse from 500 years ago, then why aren't we facing another War of Transgression?'  
'Mostly because of us. The Academy has managed to keep the peace between them, even arranging for limited diplomatic contact. It's fortunate that our technology is superior, otherwise we wouldn't have been able to achieve this much. We have managed to dispel some of their fear about each other, although tensions still exist. Complicating matters further are the Hunters, which seem to be the Nomads that Noel and Serah encountered on their journey through the Historia Crux. They lay claim to the centre of the Achlyte Steppe and, while they keep the creatures there under some form of control, they frequently clash with the Pulsians over resources and territory. Finally, we have Paddra, which is ruled by The Seeress Yeul Nsu-Paddra, who is protected by her Guardian Cauis Ballard, as well as Noel.' He said, gesturing to Noel, who nodded.  
Hope looked from Fang to Vanille, shaking his head sadly.  
'I know that that's a lot to take in, especially after everything that's happened, but you needed to be told.'  
Fang was silent for a moment, before asking  
'So, are any of us really who we were? I mean, if the world's changed, then how can we know that we haven't, as well?'  
Hope nodded;  
'That's a question that we've all been asking ourselves, and there's no way to know for certain. However, our working theory is that we haven't. We can all remember the world as it was before, which we shouldn't be able to if reality had truly been rewritten. It's like, things have been changed from a certain point, replacing one 'real' with another. We're dealing with Gods here, Beings so far above the fal'cie, never mind us. Practically anything may be possible, as far as they're concerned.  
'So, what do we do now?' Vanille asked.  
'In the immediacy, we need to keep you under observation, until we can be sure that there are no after effects of your revival. After that, we'll do what we always do. We'll sort things out, together.

An hour later, Vanille was standing by the window of the appartment that Hope had provided them, watching the hover cars flying past, as Fang walked up next to her.  
'You okay?'  
'Yes. No. I don't know.' Vanille said. 'Everything's so different, now.'  
'C'mere.' Fang said, drawing Vanille into a hug, stroking her hair soothingly.  
'Not everything's different, Vanille. We've got each other and that's never going to change. You hear me? Never.'

**THANK YOU FOR READING. ANY REVIEWS, COMMENTS OR CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM MOST WELCOME.**


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